As part of D² Enterprises, my partner and I were drawn in for work on our first trade show display. This was in 1984 for the Automotive News World Expo held at Huntington Place Convention Center (fka “Cobo Center”) in Detroit.

In the years that followed, I went out on my own to manage mega-exhibits across the United States and internationally. To this end, I launched a second business.

Proteus Publishing
Subsequently expanded and then re-branded as Proteus Trade Show Marketing (“Proteus TSM“)

In the late 1990s, I was elected to and a three-year term of the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) board of directors.

In January of 1995, I partnered with Ignacio A Guzmán in-country to found Access Group México, a first-of-its-kind alliance of five independent, in-country, full-service display houses. Its purpose was to attract and directly serve exhibitors based in the United States. I closed that decade by helping one of them, Francisco Collazo, owner and president of Sistemas de Exposición (“SISTEXPO“), open his first wholly-owned subsidiary, just outside of Washington, DC.

Following is a sampling of published pieces that I’ve written about my experiences and in advocacy of this vital marketing medium.

For related projects that I developed and curated at the National Watch & Clock Museum between 2009 and 2024, see “James Bond Watches” page.

— Dell Deaton
December 30, 2005

rev January 12, 2026; December 29, 2025; June 10, 2025; December 5, 2021; February 1, 2017